Tag Archives: Meteoroid

In April, astronomers discovered the first Earth-size planet within a star’s habitable zone, the region where liquid water can exist. This artist’s concept shows the planet, dubbed Kepler-186f, which is 1.1 times the size of Earth. The ultimate goal is to find another planet just like Earth, and this one—although more like a cousin than a twin—is close. NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech

Scientists discovered some pretty amazing things in space this year. There were yet more planets, including the first Earth-like one in a star’s habitable zone. Astronomers found what might be a black-hole triplet, stars in the midst of merging into one giant one, and a star made of diamond.

More Best of 2014:

The Best and Worst of Science in 2014

These Are Our Favorite Maps of the Year

The Best Science Visualizations of 2014

But some of the most exciting things were found right in our own solar system. These discoveries include the first rings ever seen around an asteroid, plumes of water vapor spewing out from the dwarf planet Ceres, a disintegrating asteroid, and what appears to be a new dwarf planet billions of miles away. Oh, and we landed on a comet for the first time. Here are some of the most fantastic

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower is one of two celestial light shows each year caused debris from Halley’s Comet. The other display is the annual Orionid meteor shower in mid-October. For May’s Eta Aquarid display, the peak will be overnight on May 5 and 6. You can watch live webcasts of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower from the Slooh community telescope beginning at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 May 6 GMT):
[youtube.com/watch?v=TyD2dDAMjKo]

Scheduled for May 5, 2014

On the night of May 5th, Slooh will broadcast the live coverage of the Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower. Coverage will begin on Monday, May 5th. Viewers can watch free on Slooh.com. The live image stream from upstate New York will be accompanied by expert audio from Slooh Astronomer Bob Berman.

Divers have successfully retrieved from the bottom of aRussian lake a half-ton chunk of the meteorite thatexploded over the region earlier this year. It is the largest piece of the 10,000-ton meteorite yet recovered. The enormous fragment was wrapped in a protective covering before being placed on a metal sheet and then dragged out of the water. Unfortunately, when it came time to weigh the space rock, things went terribly awry. As it was being hoisted for weighing, the fragment broke apart into at least three pieces. As if that were not bad enough, the scale then broke too. More…Discuss